Gambling and Lotteries

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Baroness raises important points about online gambling, which is one of the fastest-growing areas of gambling. We are looking at the case for increased protections online, including in relation to stake limits. However, as I said in response to my noble friend Lord Grade, we are not waiting for the review to make online games safer, so the Gambling Commission will shortly publish its response to a consultation on a number of tighter controls on online product design which will aim to protect exactly those vulnerable groups to which the noble Baroness referred. She was also right to raise the issue of women gamblers, where we have much less evidence. We look forward to building a much more comprehensive picture and will aim to use that evidence to get the regulatory balance right.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a vice-chair of Peers for Gambling Reform. We tread a fine line between allowing people to spend their money freely and preventing them from the extremes of their actions on their health and well-being. We ban the advertising of smoking and smoking in public places to prevent health deterioration. We encourage healthy eating and exercise to curb obesity levels and diabetes, but we have a reluctance to ban advertising for gambling, despite the misery that the addiction can bring. Italy, Belgium and Spain have introduced bans, while Australia has introduced a ban on gambling advertising during live sporting events between 5 am and 8.30 pm. Would the Minister consider following this lead on banning advertising to protect the young and vulnerable from falling into addiction?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Baroness has raised serious issues and has made some interesting suggestions. To be fair, I think that the noble Baroness would agree that gambling advertising is already subject to very strict controls. It cannot be targeted at children and it cannot appear during TV programmes or on websites that are aimed primarily at children. In fact, the ASA is currently consulting on further tightening these rules to limit gambling ads that appeal to children and vulnerable people. Gambling advertisers online have to obey the same rules as offline, but as I have said, the point of this review is to get the most convincing evidence possible from which we can move forward.